It has long been known that animals are naturally drawn to certain natural scents such as the urine of the same species of animal. Hunters often use these scents to attract prey into their vicinity. Though these scents are typically in liquid form, they are used by hunters in different ways. One approach is to pour the liquid scent directly onto the ground surrounding the hunter. Another way is to pour the liquid onto trees which a horned animal, such as a buck deer, has scraped to mark his territory. This approach is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,771,563. Alternatively, the liquid is contained in a bottle and allowed to vaporize into ambient air through an opening in the container.
It has also been found that by disbursing liquid scent through an absorbent pad the scent may be more rapidly vaporized into air as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,717. Once vaporized, the scent is dispersed by natural air currents. However, in cold weather vaporization is quite slow. Furthermore, in sub-freezing conditions the liquid scent may actually freeze and thereby render the product useless.
In view of this cold weather problem, devices have been designed to heat the container of liquid scent, as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,366,775 and 4,771,563, to increase the speed of vaporization. Heating the container and its contents however is inefficient and results in frequently having to replace the power source which typically is a battery or battery pack. Still other devices have been designed in which only the absorbent pad containing the liquid scent is heated, as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,046,192 and 4,773,178. Here, however, the liquid is so rapidly evaporated and depleted that its user finds himself constantly having to add additional liquid scent to the pad.
It thus is seen that a need remains for a device for dispensing animal attractant scents effectively and efficiently and which can be used in cold ambient conditions without the need for frequent replenishment of the liquid scent or the source of electric power. Accordingly, it is to the provision of such a device that the present invention is primarily directed.